The Impact of the Early Crisis in the Development of the Cold War to 1953

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Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union had started since the early conference in World War Two and increased further at the War’s conclusion. These tensions developed further during the Berlin Blockade and Airlift during 1948 and 1949, China becoming communist in 1949, and the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. The events, have been labelled as the early crisis of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and greatly increased tensions between the two superpowers and further led the countries into a Cold War.
Following World War Two tensions was developing between the communist East represented by the Soviet Union and the capitalist West which was comprised of Britain, France and the United States. This tension, which was mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had emerged as the two power states following the World War Two, was a result of both ideological differences as well as the decisions made at three key conferences during World War Two; The Tehran Conference of 1943, The Yalta Conference in the early months of 1945, and the Potsdam conference following the fall of Germany in July 1945. The Soviet Union disagreed with some of the decisions made at the conferences, most notably, the division of Germany and Berlin. The decisions made at these conferences, as well as the ideological differences between the two superpowers would further increase tensions between the East and West, as well as having a significant impact on the development of the Early Crisis and the Cold War.
Following the conferences during World War Two, Germany was split up into two zones. Occupying West Germany and West Berlin was France, Britain and The United States, while the Soviet Union occupied Ea...

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...elopment of the Cold War. Tensions between the East and West became worse as a result of these events and it would be years before relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved. The Berlin Blockade/Airlift, China becoming Communist and the Korean War tested both Soviet and American policies and drove the two superpowers to further tension.

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Neale, T. & Mellisa, B., 2012. Checkpoints HSC Modern History 2013. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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